AVIOPHOBIA: Three Shuttle Crashes That Kill McCoy
by imintchip
Summary: When the Enterprise has away missions it always brings its most esteemed medical staff. The only problem is that the transporter happens to always be broken. The only option is to use a shuttle, which doesn't bode well for someone who fears of dying in something that flies. Established McCoy/Chapel.


_I have a new found love for this pairing, that isn't anywhere near cannon, but in my mind has potential to be cannon. Who doesn't love an office romance that is a little bit risky? Forgive me for the mistakes since I have no beta. I just thought that this pairing needed a little more love, since I couldn't find a lot of really good fanfiction out there. I'm going to also be adding some Southern slang, so this will be interesting. Also this is part one of three. Each part will be one-shot, but they will all connect. This is also a very long chapter! Review and let me know what you think! Enjoy!_

* * *

 _DISCLAMER: I do not own Star Trek._

 _"Kirk to Enterprise, we are currently forced to make an emergency stop to collect dilithium crystals. After our run in with Klingons we are in dire need of them. Currently, we are too far from our other source planets, and will have to make a stop on an uninhabited planet. Our science team has located and found a planet with suitable conditions near by. We will be approaching Daled IV shortly. Away team Seven Beta, prepare for mission. Report to shuttle bay 3 at 0100. Kirk out."_

Christine Chapel set down her PADD that she was reviewing and looked at her patient with a heart palpitation. She slightly frowned as she remembered that she was apart of the away team. Didn't the Captain know that the sickbay was at full capacity for the past three days because of devastating blasts from Klingons? The sickbay needed her, she was the Head Nurse! Her CMO was not going to like this. Nurse Chapel quickly grabbed some hyposprays to give to a few patients as she worked her way to McCoy's office. "Nurse Temple, look after Ensign Flemming. It looks like he may come back to consciousness. Give him a shot of adrenaline if he stops breathing."

"Yes, Nurse Chapel." Temple replied and hurried to oversee the patients.

Nurse Chapel grabbed her PADD and made some more notes as she walked past the door that slide open into McCoy's office. Doctor McCoy sat at his desk focused on all the reports he needed to fill out. McCoy was never one to get much sleep but these past three days had been exhausting. His eyes were dark and tired as he searched his PADDs. He used his trembling hands to type quickly. McCoy's uniform was covered with some blood and his hair was disheveled. He had a scowl on his face and didn't even notice Christine walk in. She walked over to the other side of the desk and stood right next to him and she set her PADD down on his desk. It made an audible noise and he saw it with his peripherals. His eyes got harsh and he looked up to yell, "Dammit, didn't I say that under no circumstances no medical staff or patients were to come in here until I am done with these DAMN medical reports!"

Christine made a slight smirk and shook her head. McCoy's frequent irrational outbursts were child's play to her. She bend down slightly and gave him a quick kiss to the cheek. She knew that would definitely calm him down. Shock spread onto the McCoy's face to look at who it was. His eyes softened, but he was still attempting to keep his scowl and said under his breath, "Damn, Chapel are you trying to get both of us kicked off this ship? I won't allow us to lose out licenses over this relationship. What would have happened if someone saw that? "

Christine was amused and gave him a wicked look, "I don't think that has ever stopped you before. I can list quite a few things that have happened here. If you want, I can report us to Starfleet and give them quite a long list of regulations we have broken. That sounds like such a brilliant idea, doesn't it?"

McCoy became momentarily speechless, and Chapel could hear the slur of curse words that flew from his mouth. They have been keeping their relationship quite secretive for the past 2 years because it was against Starfleet regulation for a commanding officer to be romantically involved with a subordinate.

He stood up from his chair and faced Nurse Chapel and gave her hand a slight squeeze and quickly let it go. "Christine, I am assuming you came into my office for a reason. What is it?"

"Doctor McCoy, were you listening to the comm Kirk sent out?"

"Yes, I heard that one of the away teams was leaving. I'm pretty sure Nurse Temple is apart of Seven Alpha."

"No, Len. The Captain said Seven Beta. I am apart of that away team."

"WHAT? Doesn't Kirk have any sense? He can't take away my head nurse after _accidentally_ going to through Klingon space; we've already lose 2 nurses and a doctor! Doesn't he know how ridiculous it has been down here. It's practically been hell the past three days since we've been understaffed. I'm going to break bad* with Kirk! Stay here, Chapel, I'm going to the bridge."

Nurse Chapel grabbed his arm before he could walk 2 steps from his desk. He quickly snapped his head and looked at Christine ready to fight. She gave him a look and shook her head, her eyes were serious. "Sit down, Leonard. Now."

McCoy obeyed but with protest that involved some mumbled speech about wringing Kirk out to dry. McCoy looked up ready to listen. Chapel dropped her hand from his arm and put on her most professional voice, "Doctor McCoy, I am reporting my temporary leave from the sickbay. I report to shuttle bay 3 at 0100. I will fulfill the rest of my duties as head nurse when I return."

McCoy's face was now visually worried. She knew that he hated shuttles. Not only did he hate being on them but he hated _her_ being on them. He could make a whole list of all the possible malfunctions a shuttle could have that would lead to inevitable death. McCoy's face started to turn a greenish hue and beads of sweat formed on his forehead. He grabbed her hand tightly. "Why are you taking a damn shuttle? What hell happened to the transporter?"

"You obviously don't read the messages Scotty sends out, do you? Two days ago he said that our transporters were heavily damaged by the attack."

"Dammit."

"Leonard, I have to go it was an order by the Captain. We are going to be landing on Daled IV, it's uninhabited and there are no major threats. I will be fine."

McCoy, loosened his grasp on Christine's hand, he knew his fear was irrational.

"I understand, but when you come back from that mission don't think I'm going easy on you. There will still be tons of work for you to do when you get back."

"Understood, Doctor McCoy." Nurse Chapel gave him a quick smile and took a few steps away from his desk. Suddenly, McCoy stood up and turned Chapel around to give her a chaste kiss on the lip. He quickly let her go and took a step away from her.

"Don't get hurt. You know how full this sickbay is and I won't allow for you to be one of my patients _again_."

"McCoy, do you know you have a way with words?" Christine looked around quickly and reached up to McCoy's ear with her mouth, and whispered, "I love you, too."

She quickly stepped away, and didn't get a chance to look at the slight blush on McCoy's face. Hopefully, that would distract him from thinking about shuttle crashes for awhile.

* * *

Nurse Chapel checked her medical kit thoroughly, and she was ready to go. The rest of the Seven Beta team was meeting up at the shuttle bay. A few engineering ensigns, and some lieutenants who where part of the chemists on the ship were there to help with the dilithium crystal extraction. Last but not least was Captain Kirk.

He approached the group of Starfleet officers. "Hello, Seven Beta. I assuming you are ready for our away mission. One last thing we need to do is suit up. Even with the planet being relatively low risk it still has little to no oxygen and a high amount of arsine gas. Hurry up and put them on, we leave in t-minus 15 minutes."

The team quickly boarded the shuttle read for the mission briefing by one of the lieutenants. Kirk sat next to Nurse Chapel, and she instantly rolled her eyes. Not again. "Hi, Christine, How's the sickbay? Maybe I can stop by and you can _take care of me_?"

"Captain, you can come to the sickbay whenever you find yourself injured. I'm sure McCoy would be glad to assist you." Christine gave him a bitter smile.

"Yes, but every time I come to the sickbay for an injury, he refuses to give me the maximum dose for pain relief. I'm tired of it! He says, 'You damn well deserve it, Kirk.' You couldn't possible understand."

"I'm sure Doctor McCoy is probably right in doing so."

Kirk lowered his voice and quietly said,"I'm sure you guys must have some incredibly nice s-"

Chapel snapped her head in fury and cut him off before he could finish his sentence, "Captain, I have no idea what you are talking about."

"Oh I think you know _exactly_ what I am talking about." Kirk gave Chapel a boyish grin.

Christine's mouth tightened into a straight line, "Don't tell me he has been making alcohol with Scotty again."

"Well, I can neither confirm or deny that since that would be against regulation, but I can say Bones has come to my living quarters on a few occasions, and did tell me some _interesting_ dirty details."

Nurse Chapel felt a flare of anger rise up in her chest. "Well, Captain I suggest that we focus on the mission briefing that the lieutenant is giving."

She was going to kill McCoy when she got back. She thought that she told him to stop making alcohol with Scotty a year ago. It didn't make her angry that he drank, but the fact was their homemade brew was dangerous! Scotty and McCoy once made alcohol that got half the engineering crew stuck in sickbay for a week. She thought she told him to stick to synthetic alcohol. She shook her head trying to brush away the anger. There was no need in worrying about it now, she needed to focus on the away mission.

"Ok, prepare for landing in 5 minutes, we will reach the surface and head for the target point at 100 kilometers northeast." The lieutenant finished his brief and sat back down. Christine looked out the window and saw that they were still in space heading towards Daled IV. Even with McCoy's fears, it never held her back from loving shuttle rides because it gave her the experience of seeing a planet from space and then gave her the ability to see the vast landscape of a plant as they landed. Transporting never had that type of experience; it took the awe out of traveling to planets. This view was definitely one reason she enlisted in Starfleet. The plant surface became more detailed as they approached it. She could see light green clouds swirl over the surface, and deep valleys that were full of lava. It was so intense and beautiful.

The pilot spoke, "1.5 minutes till landing, prepare oxygen, and prepare for turbulence."

Christine turned on her oxygen and sealed her mask. The shuttle started to rock as turbulence hit the shuttle. The shaking continued. Christine looked nervously at the pilot as he reached for different buttons and levers.

The pilot yelled, "The meters are off the charts, there is a malfunction in the engine and in the braking system. I have never seen anything like it."

Kirk took no time to wait, "Get us the hell out of here, Lieutenant! Emergency eject now!"

For Christine everything happened so quickly, all she heard was a click and within a second she found herself suspended in the air as she looked at the malfunctioning aircraft hit the ground in flames. It felt like slow motion as she looked around to see her other crew members being ejected out of the shuttle. There was panic on everyone's faces. Quickly her parachute eject and she found herself floating towards the planet's rocky surface. Her parachute suddenly snagged on one of the rocky cliffs, and she found herself falling hard to the surface. She felt her head rattle in her helmet and her vision go black for a small moment. Chapel attempted to unbuckle herself with shaking hands, but Kirk ran to her and released her from the seat. He gave her a quick look and helped her up. His face turned to concern as he looked at the controls on her wrist. "Oh shit."

Christine noticed the small sound of wind in her helmet. She looked at her wrist and saw the red alert. _Oh no._ Then she noticed the small crack in her helmet and that her precious oxygen was slowly escaping. Chapel knew her time was limited and that she would soon die from asphyxiation. She never thought that this would be the way she went.

Kirk spoke to the controls on her wrist quickly, "Computer, what is the estimated time this suit will run out of oxygen."

It beeped, "Estimated time: 1.85 hours till oxygen depletion."

"Chapel, we need to get you out of here soon."

Kirk ran over to the Ensign who wasn't getting out of his chair. "Nurse Chapel, come here now. I need you to scan this Ensign."

Nurse Chapel, shook the daze she was in. She didn't have time to worry about herself. She had to worry about the rest of the away team and their physical well-being. Beside she would probably get transported off the planet before anything bad happened, _right?_ Nothing bad was going to happen. Chapel felt some anxiety rise in her chest, fighting to take over her emotional stability. She fought back trying to not let it take over her. If anything she was going to be known as a damn good head nurse. _That's something McCoy would say._ Christine tried not to let the idea of McCoy keep her from the situation at hand. She couldn't let all these negative thoughts come to her mind, she really needed to focus on the away team. Kirk jostled her from her thoughts, "Nurse Chapel!"

"Coming, Captain."

Christine pulled out her tricorder quickly scanned the man. She already knew by looking at him that he was gone. "Captain he has no vitals, his heart and breathing has stopped. His cause of death was from a puncture wound in the chest."

Kirk's face was full of frustration as he he hit his fist against the ground, "I'm sick and tired of losing my crew! These are good people. Their deaths are on me."

Kirk stood up from the ground with a new determination. He ran over to the other people in the crew who were still strapped in there chairs. Christine followed and tried to ignore the constant beeping that she heard in her helmet. Nurse Chapel got her tricorder out and started to scan each person in the team. Each person's condition was stable, there was only a bit of adrenaline in everyone's blood systems. "Captain, everyone's vitals are stable. I can report of only one casualty."

"Thank you, Nurse Chapel. Ensign, what is your name?" Kirk pointed to the young man who barely looked 19 years old.

"I'm Ensign Rubel, Captain."

"Ensign Rubel, I need to you to get communications going between us and the Enterprise. It seems that the signal is low or being over powered by a different frequency." He tossed him a communicator, "You Lieutenant with the blond hair, what is your name?"

"I'm Lieutenant Reed."

"Good, Lieutenant Reed, I need you to remain here with Ensign Rubel and help him make contact with the Enterprise. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Captain." The blonde lieutenant.

"The rest of you need to come with me. We are going to the shuttle site we need to find anything in the wreckage that could be useful."

The rest of the away team followed Kirk to the shuttle. The shuttle was in flames and was crushed. Chapel spoke, "Captain, how are we going to extract the equipment without injuring ourselves."

Kirk turned to Chapel, "You aren't, I'm going in. I need the rest of you to gather important equipment from around the wreckage."

Kirk ran into the smashed entry way of the shuttle. Christine was about to speak to him, but he was already in there. _Kirk would be the type of Captain to run into a blazing fire._ Christine instead readied her hyposprays. After a few minutes Kirk came out and had a large bag with him. The other Ensigns looked baffled. I guess they weren't use to Kirk yet. Christine scanned him and put the hypospray in the safe entryway on his EV suit.

"Dammit, that still hurts!" Kirk shook his head to get over the pain, "We need to regroup with Lieutenant Reed and Ensign Rubel. Let's go."

Kirk led the way thorough the rocky pathway way towards the spot where they were ejected. As they approached Lieutenant Reed and Ensign were nowhere in site. The only thing that laid on the ground was the communicator. Kirk ran over and picked it up and heard some noise coming through. It slowly became clearer as he began to notice the screams coming through it. The noise got louder and louder until Kirk dropped the communicator, "What the hell was that?"

A silent pale Ensign spoke and pointed at the communicator, "That was Lieutenant Reed's voice, Captain."

Kirk looked at the Ensign with concern. _What was happening?_ All of a sudden a huge blast came from the shuttle hundreds of feet away. Christine looked at the wave of fire coming at her and she found herself being thrown into the air again. She was knocked heavily into the ground and everything went black.

* * *

 _On the Enterprise_

On the bridge, Uhura quickly ran over the computer to check the communications. She noticed immediately when the line went dead. "Commander Spock, I have lost communications with Shuttle 3."

"Scan again. Contact communicators." Spock spoke evenly.

"Commander, I have completely lost connection. No contact has been made."

"Lieutenant Uhura, scan for life on the planet."

"Yes, Commander."

Uhura started to scan over her computers and noticed a small frequency. "Commander, I have found a small but weak frequency."

"Clear the noise from the frequency."

Uhura cleared the noise from the frequency, she magnified it's frequency so she could hear the sound. Uhura took off her earpiece as the screaming intensified. Uhura felt chills run up her spine. "Commander, I suggest you listen to this."

Spock picked up the earpiece that fell to the ground, and listened to it for a moment.

"Ensign Chekov, comm the Engineering crew. Tell them to have the transporter up and running in 20 minutes."

"Yes, Commander." Chekov said. He quickly repeated the message to Engineering.

Spock sat in the chair ready to comm the rest of the Enterprise. "Spock to Enterprise. I am to inform the crew that there has been a complication with the landing of the away team on Daled IV. It seems that their shuttle has been destroyed. We will soon prepare a rescue team to assess the situation. Sickbay prepare for possible survivors. Spock out."

* * *

McCoy was looking over a patient who needed a new robotic arm, and he was taking measurements and notes for the new limb when he heard the comm.

Doctor McCoy froze what he was doing. He blinked his eyes trying to register the information that he just received. The PADD that was in his hands fell to the ground. He looked at his patient in a daze, excused himself and walked towards his office. The door slid shut and he locked it. He walked over to his chair and slumped down into it. He hit his fist against his desk, "DAMMIT!"

Bile started to rise in his throat, as he tried to fight the wave of nausea that overcame him. Literally his worst fears had become a reality. He ran over to the replicator and got some synthetic bourbon. He took the glass in one gulp. His body slightly relaxed as his anger and fear started to subside, but an aching pain started to rise in his chest that became overwhelming. He started to feel tears form in his eyes, but he wouldn't let them spillover. McCoy sat back into his chair and put his elbows on his knees and grabbed his head. What was he going to do? He should have stopped Kirk from taking her on the away mission when he had the chance. McCoy started to feel like it was his fault. She was the only woman who could handle him, and he never thought that after Jocelyn there was someone he could love, but Christine proved him wrong. Even worse was that he never loved anyone as much as he loved her. He was crazy enough to want to marry Christine after they were done with the five-year mission. He never thought he would ever have that desire again. The pain started to sink in even more and McCoy wondered how he was going to survive the rest of the mission. The Enterprise had 2 years left, he didn't know if he could handle working in the sickbay when _his_ head nurse was missing, leaving a void that couldn't be filled.

"Doctor McCoy."

McCoy looked up at who spoke to him. It was Commander Spock. McCoy felt anger.

"What the hell are you doing in here? I locked the door to my office! You have no right to override it with an emergency code! I'm going to tear those ears off your Vulcan head!"

Spock remained calm and gave the Doctor a slight arch in his eyebrow, "Doctor, need I remind you that it is against regulation 23.5 6 to harm a commanding officer. Also, entering your office was not illogical, as you were not responding to your communicator or the knocks at the door. The only logical thing to do was to override the door."

"Whatever, Spock. It is a human custom to leave people the hell alone, when they are mourning."

"If you are referring to Nurse Chapel-"

"Spock! Do not speak right now. Just leave, I want to be left alone."

"If that is what you wish. It would seem you are too emotionally compromised to be apart of the rescue team on Delad IV. I will take my leave then."

"Wait. Rescue team?"

"Yes, I announced it on the comm 10.5 minutes ago. I was going to ask you to join the rescue team, but now I see you are now unfit to do so."

McCoy stood up, he felt a new resolve. He felt a sense of hope flare up in him. Maybe she was still on the planet surface. It wasn't much to go on but he wanted believe even if the chances were small. "I am going."

Spock turned to look at Bones, "I will see you at the transporter pad at 0230."

Spock left the office, and McCoy walked to his replicator for another round synthetic bourbon. Hell, he knew Chapel was too stubborn to just die in a shuttle crash. She was probably trying to fix everyone else's injuries. Her obsession of putting her patients first was going to kill her some day. He shook his head, grabbed a medical pack and ran to the transporter room.

* * *

Christine started to hear ringing in her ears and the beeping of her EV suit repeating a warning that she couldn't make out at first.

"Warning: 40 minutes till oxygen depletion. Warning: 40 minutes till oxygen depletion..."

It repeated 3 more times and stopped for a while and continued to repeat again. Christine's breathing was heavy her vision was still spotted with black. She attempted to stand but fell. Her hands were trembling and she couldn't get up. She felt an arm help lift her to her feet. Her vision started to focus and she could see it was Kirk.

"We need to run now!" He commanded and started to run in a sprint.

Christine started to run as fast as she could even though her head was pounding in protest and the warnings on her EV suit were practically screaming at her. That is when she heard a loud unfamiliar sound that sent a shiver up her spine. For a moment, she looked behind her to see a giant bug like animal chasing them. She looked around to see if any of the other members of the away team were with them, but it was only her and Kirk running from the monster. Adrenaline filled her veins and she found herself running slightly faster than Kirk.

"Chapel, we need to run into that cave. This animal is too big to fit."

"And what if it happens to follow us in there?!"

"Does that even matter? Do you have any bright ideas?"

Christine's mind went blank, Kirk was right. There was nothing in sight that could give them cover, the cave was their best option. Christine used all her energy to focus on the cave. She was still seeing black dots dance across her vision. She wanted to faint, but she refused to. The creature was gaining on them and made a horrible screeching sound. It tried to crush them with it's foot as it gained on them. Christine felt the ground underneath her crack and tremble. She tried to sprint faster, the cave was only 20 feet away. They were so close. She ran into the entry way of the cave and stopped and collapsed on the floor to breath. Kirk was next to her breathing hard. The creature tried to fit it's head into the small opening. The animal began to hit it's body against the cave opening.

The cave ceiling started to crack and Nurse Chapel saw a few rocks fall. "Kirk we need to move! This is going to collapse!"

Christine used the rest of the little energy she had to move. The front of the cave collapsed and they were trapped. Christine's heart sunk as the hope of seeing McCoy again left with outside light. The only glow left came from their EV suits. _How the hell were they suppose to get out of here?_

Christine sat on the ground to catch her breath. She final took the time to see if she had any part of her medical pack with her. All she had was a tricorder and one hypospray for pain relief. She sighed, that wasn't much, but then again they were also stuck in a cave. She looked over to Kirk.

"Captain Kirk, please tell me you have something of use."

"The only things I have are a broken phaser and a broken communicator."

"Great, we are in the best circumstances." Christine scoffed and tried to not focus too much about the future.

They were both silent for a moment. Christine then decided to scan Kirk for injuries and his scan came out practically clean. Christine looked around the dark cave and then noticed in the distance a faded light.

"Kirk, look!" He looked and also saw the dim light.

Both of them turned on the lights on their suits. They carefully followed the light till it became brighter. As the approached Christine could see 2 silhouettes of human men. She gasped. Was that Lieutenant Reed and Ensign Rubel?

"Nurse Chapel, are you seeing what I think I'm seeing?"

"Yes, Captain."

They got closer and they noticed that the men weren't moving as the approached; Christine shined her light on them. Her eye's widened as she felt a shot of pain hit her stomach. It was Lieutenant Reed and Ensign Rubel. Their bodies were being hung from a rope like material allowing them to almost touch the ground. The mutilation of their faces was something she never saw before. Their bodies were covered in blood and the image of them burned into Chapel's retinas.

"God." Was all that Kirk could manage to say.

"We need to keep moving forward, Captain. I'm pretty sure we will run into whoever is doing this."

"I'm not quite sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing."

Both of them walked past the carnage both in shock. Nurse Chapel's alarm got louder again; anxiety flared in her chest. "Warning: 25 minutes till oxygen depletion."

"Captain, I think it would be best if we fix the communicator and tried to reach the Enterprise."

"I agree." Kirk nodded.

Kirk shown his light at the communicator as he attempted to play with some of the functions of the communicator. He looked at it. "The problem is that it's low on power. It only has enough energy for a 1.5 minute communication with the Enterprise."

"I think we need to make sure it is 100% functional before we attempt to contact the Enterprise." Christine replied.

In the corner of her eye she saw the dim light in the distance grow brighter. She also swore she saw something moving about 50 feet away from them. Christine turned towards the light source again and started to run towards it. She only had about 25 minutes left and she wasn't just going to sit and wait for a communicator to work. Kirk made an audible gasp and followed Chapel.

The light got brighter as she entered a room full of glowing crystal. These weren't any type of normal crystals, she knew that these were dilithium crystals. Never had she seen or heard of them ever being in this high of a concentration in one place. Her mouth slightly fell open. Kirk caught up to her and looked at the room they were in. "These can't be dilithium crystals. I have never seen so many in my life."

As they stood in awe Christine saw a figure come towards them. She looked again and she froze. It was a raptor-like creature running towards them. It wasn't even possible for something like that to exist on Delad IV. "Kirk! You better tell me that phaser is working."

Kirk grasped for his phaser as the raptor creature lunged towards Christine and threw her to the ground. It tried to bit at her but it's teeth could't break the suit. The raptor went still and Kirk pulled it off of her. She got up and moved away from the animal. There was no way this was happening, it looked like something out of a Terran museum. "Kirk, I though dinosaurs went extinct billions of years ago on _Earth._ "

"That is what I thought. This is bizarre, we need to figure out what is happening. "

The slumped raptor creature started to move and it's body started to contort into different shapes and colors. All of a sudden the raptor turned into an exact copy of Lieutenant Reed. It then transformed it's face to match the deceased mutilated face of Reed. _Oh God._ What was going on? The only thing that came to mind was shape-shifters. It was something she heard of from old 21st century comic books and movies.

"Nurse Chapel! Run!"

The both ran in the opposite direction of the creature, trying to distance themselves from it. They ran to the other side of the room and found themselves trapped in this vast room. It didn't help that the warning from her EV suit turned to 10 minutes. She did not want to die like this, being chased by an unknown shape-shifter creature, and never being able to see McCoy again. As they approached one side of the room, Kirk and Nurse Chapel faced the strange creature. She had no idea what to do. Only one word came to her mind and that was: communicate. As they stopped to face the creature, others appeared in the same distorted form of Lieutenant Reed. How was she suppose to communicate with what she felt was horde of zombies? There was at least 50 of them! The beeping in EV suit grew louder again. "Warning: 5 minutes till oxygen depletion." Her adrenaline went through the roof and she started to feel panic over take her. Kirk yelled, "Stop! I am the Captain of the USS Enterprise."

The horde of clones stopped just a foot away from them and tilted their heads. All of a sudden Christine felt an emotion that wasn't her own, she glanced at Kirk to noticed that he felt that too. It was a feeling of curiosity. It dawned on Christine that this whole time they were being led to this cave. If these creatures were shape-shifters, the creature that chased them into the cave was one of them. It started to make sense. They also could only communicate through emotions. What did they want from them? Before she could speak Kirk started to shoot his phaser at them. They grew angry and started to move closer. Christine gave Kirk a deadly look to stop.

Nurse Chapel quickly spoke, "What are you?" She made sure that her emotions conveyed what she was saying.

They froze and she heard a bizarre screech come from their mouths, but felt that they were some sort of species that had a bond that connected all of them. They were very isolated, and she felt that they wanted to learn about them. She continued to speak, "Why did you kill our comrades?"

Once again the feeling came to her that they wanted to learn about them. Her breath hitched for a moment. That is why they killed most of the away team. _To learn about them like science experiments._ She felt her own anger rise but she fought to remain calm. She saw Kirk move forward in anger to but she stopped him with her hand, "In order to learn about a new species you need to communicate with them."

Once again the creatures tilted their heads trying process the information. She could feel that they couldn't understand what she was saying. They though getting to understand something new was through taking it apart physically, strange for a species that communicated through emotions. Chapel took off her tricorder and gave it to them as a peace offering. She set it on the ground and the creatures tilted there heads again. One went to grab the tricorder and examined it silently. She could feel that they were pleased with what she offered them.

"You can learn from the technology that I have just given you. Now please help us find a way to leave this cave." Chapel pleaded. The beeping in her EV suit became too loud. The alarm didn't stop repeating this time. "Warning: 1 minute till oxygen depletion. Warning: 59 seconds till oxygen depletion..." _Damn._ She had no more time she started to feel the lack of oxygen in her suit and started to slide to the ground. Kirk gave her a panicked look and started to speak for her but instead gave her a knowing nod. He must of had some sort of plan. He better have an idea that would get them out of here in 50 seconds.

Instead she felt anger come from the creatures, and a feeling that they didn't want them to leave yet. Kirk spoke this time, "We need to find a way to leave this cave. This woman will die. If she is dead then you will not have an opportunity to learn more from us."

The creatures turned to each other as if they were having a silent conversation. They turned back to Kirk and Nurse Chapel and instantly disappeared with the tricorder. Kirk's eyes widened, "What the hell? They left us here to die." Kirk grabbed his communicator and hoped that it would work this time.

"Kirk to Enterprise. Can you hear me?"

The line was silent for a moment and only a small signal came through. Kirk closed the communicator and threw it on the ground. Just when Christine thought that their situation couldn't get worse the ground around them started to shake and she saw crystals start to fall from the ceiling towards them. She started to feel hot tears sting at her eyes. She did not want to leave McCoy by himself. She could only imagine what her death would do to him. She didn't want him to deal with that type of pain. "Warning: 10 seconds till oxygen depletion. Warning: 9 seconds till oxygen depletion..." Christine's breathing became heavier and heavier with each second. Kirk was standing over her making sure she was still alive, but right as he bent down to help her she felt the little bit oxygen she had leave. She tried to gasp for air but there was nothing. She started to wheeze for air, but the black dots started to form in front of her eyes, and she started to convulsively wheeze. She could barely see Kirk anymore but she could feel the shaking around them increase and she could barely hear the rocks crashing around them. This was it she knew she was dead. She felt physical pain in her body but in her chest she felt this immense sorrow that she really wouldn't be able to tell McCoy she loved him ever again. A tear slid from her eye as the crashing rocks filled her vision. For a moment she thought that she saw McCoy's face and everything became void and dark.

* * *

Kirk found himself standing on a transporter pad, in confusion. He was alive, and on the Enterprise. He looked at the floor and saw an unconscious Nurse Chapel on the ground. He was about to yell for medical support, but he saw Bones fly to her before he could utter a word.

Bones quickly had his tricorder scan over her. He rushed to disengaged the helmet from her EV suit with his shaky hands, and proceed to do CPR on her lifeless body.

"Dammit, Dammit, Dammit! Breath Chapel!" Bones got a hypospray full of adrenaline out and administered it to her. He checked his tricorder again and could see that she had a pulse but it was weak.

McCoy looked at Scotty who was at the controls. "I need you to transport Nurse Chapel and myself to the sickbay. NOW!"

White swirls engulfed them and McCoy found that they were in the sickbay. He picked up Christine from the floor and set her body on a biobed. "Nurse Temple, I need you to get 2 containers of oxygen! Nurse Myer! Help me remove this suit!"

Nurse Temple look horrified as she saw who McCoy laid on the bed. She ran to get the oxygen and started to set it up for the Doctor. McCoy felt his hands trembling as Nurse Myer helped him take the EV suit off. Doctor McCoy had no time to think, he needed to save her life. Promptly another nurse assisted him and gave him hyposprays to help with brain damage.

He rapidly shocked Chapel to stimulate her, but it didn't work. Panic rose in his chest. He again tried to give CPR the old fashioned way. He couldn't wait for Nurse Temple to finish setting up the oxygen. Chapel still didn't breath. McCoy yelled, "Chapel, don't you dare leave! You need to breath DAMMIT!"

Quickly, Nurse Temple handed McCoy the breathing mask. He put it on her face but she did not take a breath. All of a sudden her heartbeat was gone and McCoy reached for more hyposprays and shocked Chapel again. He waited for a moment snd shocked her again and her heart started to beat. All of a sudden a small weak gasp came from Christine. She coughed as she gasped for more air. Her breaths were shaky at first but they normalized after a few minutes, but she still didn't open her eyes. McCoy scanned her to make sure her heart rate and breathing were up. He made a sigh of relief, but still felt a ting of fear that she would never wake up. All he could do was wait.

* * *

Chapel opened her eyes but her vision was blurred she couldn't see what was in front of her. It took a moment to focus on what as in front of her. Maybe she was dead? There was no way she should be breathing right now. She felt hands at her shoulders and tried to focus. After a moment she could see McCoy's face. His brow was furrowed and he had a scowl on his face, but his eye looked like they were full of relief. His entire face had a flare of anger, she began to blink and stare at him.

He tried to frown and opened his mouth. "What the hell were you thinking? You were dead! What did I tell you about shuttles? And didn't I explicitly say not to become my patient AGAIN? I'm going to tan Kirk's hide!*"

Christine gave him a weak smile, and used one of her hands to lightly touch his face. He let go of her shoulders and sat the edge of he biobed. His whole angry resolve was gone and all she saw in his eyes was the raw emotions of lose and sorrow. He must of really thought that he was going to lose her. Christine herself could barely believe that she was alive and on the Enterprise. She felt her heart ache in pain. She wanted to reach out and hold him, but this was the sickbay. She sighed and quickly looked around to see that the rest of the staff was busy attending other patients. Chapel attempted to sit up but McCoy stopped her with his hand, "Don't move! You are too weak."

Christine didn't protest she did feel very weak. Instead she questioned him, "How did you did you figure out where we were?"

"Chapel, when the communication signal dropped, Spock and a few of us made up a rescue team. We beamed down to the planet's surface tried to pick up a life signal. When saw the shuttle wreckage we searched through the casualties. We noticed that neither you or Kirk were apart of the deceased. Then we tried to find a signal. We received a small one and we started to head towards a collapsed cave. We used a phaser to blast away the rocks to create a hole big enough for us to enter. Just as we started to head into the cave the ground started to tremble and rocks started to fall on us. Scotty beamed us out before we could reach you. I argued with Spock to beam me back down but he didn't (try arguing with a Vulcan and he will threaten to nerve pinch you.) Within seconds of us being transported and taking off our own EV suits, we received your EV suit's emergency signal. Immediately Scotty used the coordinates and beamed you and Kirk out of the cave. Next, thing I saw was your damn lifeless body on the transporter pad. It scared the hell out of me."

Christine really could only imagine the panic he had. She stared at him silently as his eyes bore into hers. She felt like she would burst into flames staring into his eyes. She really wanted to be alone with him and talk to him privately.

They stared at each other for a long time, until Nurse Temple tapped on his shoulder. "Doctor McCoy, I need you to look at Ensign Flemming. He seems to be getting an allergic reaction from the hypospray we gave him."

McCoy's face turned angry and he snapped at Temple, "Give him a damn hypospray to get rid of the reaction! I'm busy treating a patient! Can't any of you nurses think for your own damn selves!"

Christine sighed. She knew McCoy didn't want to leave her side since she was barely stabilized, but even when she was utterly exhausted she didn't like it when McCoy insulted the intelligence of the other nurses. She spoke in a stern professional tone and took her breathing mask off, "Doctor McCoy!"

McCoy turned around to look at Nurse Chapel, she had a serious look on her face and was ready for an argument, He knew what was about to happen. "Not again, woman! Are you out of your mind?"

Christine glared at him, "How many times have I told you not to insult my nurses? Constructive criticism is to be given by me. I am the Head Nurse! I am there commanding officer!" As Chapel took another breath to speak she started to cough as pain filled her chest. McCoy's fighting expression changed to slight panic as he grabbed a hypospray and put the mask back on her face. He mumbled angrily, "This is not a time to kill yourself over nurses."

Christine took a deep breath and relaxed again. She looked at McCoy who was now standing checking her vitals, she sighed and grabbed his free hand. He looked down at her and his eyes became tender. She mouthed silently to him, "I love you." He let out a shaky breath. She stared into his eyes as he knelt down by biobed and whispered into her ear, "I love you, too." He slowly stood up straight, his face showed that he wanted to hold and kiss her, but he fought the urge to do so.

Christine gave him a brilliant smile that she reserved for only him. McCoy gave her a smirk and she could see something in his eyes. He quickly leaned down toward her face looked around to make sure no one was looking, took the oxygen mask off and gave her a tender kiss. Christine tried to deepen the kiss but McCoy separated himself from her quickly. They both looked around again to make sure there was no peeking eyes. Luckily, no one was paying attention to them. Christine let out a sigh of relief, that was the most risky thing they had done in awhile. Never in their right minds would they even think about touching, let alone even kissing, in front of their staff. But they weren't in their right minds at moment.

McCoy spoke first, "I need to go check on the other patients. Don't move an inch while I'm gone!"

Leonard walked away and Chapel could feel the exhaustion over take her body. She closed her eyes and attempted to get some rest.

* * *

Christine opened her eyes and sat up to look around. She was in McCoy's office on his couch, immediately a pain shot up in her chest. On the table next to her were two hyposprays and she injected herself with them. McCoy was always prepared, but why was she on his couch. She attempted to stand up but a round of vertigo hit her and she fell. She got up again and was able to balance herself. Chapel walked out of the office into the sickbay. She saw McCoy standing over a patient and noticed that all of the biobeds were full, but there was hardly any staff there. What time was it?

She attempted to speak but it came out scratchy, "McCoy."

McCoy looked up from his PADD and turned towards Chapel. He started to walk towards her, "How are you feeling?"

He was at her side using his tricorder to scan her. She started to speak, "Why was I on your couch?"

McCoy looked at her and frowned feeling like he had been accused of something dirty, "The sickbay reached maximum capacity and the whole staff didn't want to move you to your quarters just yet. So we all decided that we could still keep an eye on you while you rested in my office."

Christine gave him a small smile, "When you say the whole staff didn't want me to leave, do you just mean that _you_ didn't want me to leave? And that _you_ convinced them to let me stay?"

McCoy slightly blushed and tried to frown, "I may have done something like that."

Chapel laughed, "I'm pretty sure you were very _convincing_ when you were yelling at them."

McCoy let a small chuckle escape his chest, "Yes, I was damn convincing. I do have my southern charm."

His drawl became more noticeable by the end of his sentence. Christine felt her heart flutter, and could feel her cheeks flush. _Was he shamelessly flirting with her in the middle of the sickbay?_

His smile faded but the amusement was still in his eyes, "You should go back and rest some more before you return to your quarters."

Chapel nodded her head. A charming smile was plastered on her face and she walked back to the office. She noticed that McCoy followed her and locked the door behind them. She turned around and gave him a questioning look. Before she knew could even question him, he was holding her in his arms. She took a deep breath a relaxed into his arms. She missed this. She wrapped her arms around him and sighed. It was rare for them to even embrace like this. He kissed her head and held onto her tightly. For some reason her heart started to race. You would think after 2 years of dating she wouldn't be reacting like a teenager.

He started to speak, "You are never walking onto a damn shuttle ever again."

Christine laughed, "I think I understand why you have aviophobia now. I think I won't be stepping onto a shuttle for a while."

McCoy loosened his hold on her and tilted her head so she could look at him, "Your damn right."

A small smirk appeared on his face and Christine couldn't help but put her hands around his neck and pull his face to hers. He initially kissed her tenderly and carefully, but Christine started to kiss him with more vigor. As they continued she noticed that she needed to breath, but dying from asphyxiation in this man's arm wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, right? Chapel separated to catch her breath, but McCoy's lips were on hers before she could stabilize her breathing. She didn't want to separated from him either she sighed into his mouth, and he kissed her thoroughly before letting her go. Christine was struggling for breath and found herself sightly wheezing. Her head felt lightheaded as she leaned into McCoy for balance. McCoy quickly led her to the couch realizing that her lung capacity was pretty low at the moment and sat her down. McCoy had an arm around her and she leaned into him as she tried to catch her breath.

McCoy spoke breathlessly, "Sorry, It's been awhile since we've kissed like that. Are you feeling alright?"

Christine sat up to look at McCoy's eyes, she could tell he felt a bit guilt for being careless about her health. But his dark eyes were full of desire and want. She felt the flare of desire in her body become more noticeable, and she really wanted to pull that stupid uniform off of him. Instead, Chapel took McCoy's face in her hands and had him look at her. She could feel the dark stubble, that she loved, forming on his jaw. The bags under his eyes were dark, but his eyes were even darker. His hair was slightly out of place, she used her left hand to move it back into place.

She gave him a sweet smile, and kissed the corner of his mouth, "Don't you have patients to be attending to, Leonard?" she said playfully.

He attempted to scowl at her but failed miserably, "I think you are one of my patients, Christine."

Christine's laughed and she kissed his smiling face thoroughly.

* * *

Notes:

Review please!

 _*Break bad-To raise hell, defy authority or generally go wild or break the law; when used before the preposition "on," to dominate or humiliate_

 _*Tan your hide-Basically to whoop someone's ass._


End file.
